Canon transplants ‘Tree’

Obie Award-winner to play four weeks beginning Dec. 5

The Pasadena Playhouse production of “The Syringa Tree” will move to the Canon Theater in Beverly Hills for four weeks beginning Dec. 5.

A hit in New York and London — and winner of the 2001 Obie Award for best play — “Syringa” will be performed alternately by the playwright, Pamela Gien, and the two actresses who are performing the show on its current national tour, Gin Hammond and Eva Kaminsky. One actress plays 24 different characters.

“Syringa Tree” is set in South Africa and runs from early apartheid, when the action is seen through the eyes of a 6-year-old, to the present day.

Random House has commissioned Gien to write “The Syringa Tree” as a novel and is writing the screenplay of “The Syringa Tree.” She has completed the screenplay for the film “The Lily Field,” which she has developed with Larry Moss and Matt Salinger.

Matt Salinger and Susan Dietz are producing “Syringa Tree” at the Canon. Last performance is Dec. 28.